40 Mobility Leaders to Follow on Social Media (who are also women)
The second leg of a short spin seeking the globe’s most active women in the smart, shared and urban mobility sectors
In part one, we met 25 women who are making an impact on public transport, urban planning and micro-mobility, mostly in Europe and America.
This article continues the journey, so that we can meet even more women making daily calls about the future direction of transportation and urban development for everyone on a global scale.
This second list has been built after an active collaboration among the forward thinkers of the future mobility sector. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
Diversity in mobility
Why is diversity important in mobility? We as women, and especially women from diverse backgrounds, have unique insights into the needs of large sectors of the community that might otherwise go ignored.
Just as women will travel on the network, and care for people who also travel, we also need to be the ones involved in planning and implementing it, so that the intended solutions are designed to fit the needs of the community and literally no one is left behind. #leavenoonebehind
Conferences, governments and teams around the world are making conscious efforts to feature women in high exposure, high responsibility roles in the transport sector.
And 2019 will see the launch of the first even Women in Mobility Summit, to be held in November.
Democratic Freedoms
I believe the trend towards micro mobility and shared mobility is a part of a greater trend towards greater democratic access to transport for everyone.
In the 21st century, humanity is demanding a liberated level of freedom of movement to match our liberated states of mind and being, in a way which concurrently doesn’t cost the Earth and is sustainable.
It’s great to see that so many women are at the forefront of this movement towards human flourishing and sustainability like I and my colleagues are at iomob.net!
Let’s keep on moving! Here’s the list in no particular order.
Women leading change
Fiona Campbell: @FionaBike — Manager Cycling Strategy at City of Sydney, http://www.sydneycycleways.net/ Fiona Campbell is one of Australia’s most respected and committed bike planners and she is widely recognised as a passionate champion for cycling. Fiona joined the City of Sydney in 2008 and has been Manager of Cycling Strategy since 2010. The City has spent $99 million on rolling out its Cycling Strategy, including constructing 12.5km of separated cycleways and complementary social programs, resulting in a doubling of cycling trips over the last six years.
Jay Pitter: @Jay_Pitter — Placemaker. Author. City-Builder. Leader. Listener. Subdivided Co-Editor. Where We Live will be published by McClelland & Stewart, Penguin Random House Canada.
“Yes! When talking about women’s #mobility, we must consider: • Movement mediated by an external gaze • Invisible internal mapping due to fear & safety concerns; • Hubs of power & microgeographies •Belonging & spatial entitlement • Imaginative & social movement” — Jay Pitter
Robin Chase: @rmchase — Robin Chase is a transportation entrepreneur. She is co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest carsharing company in the world; as well as co-founder of Veniam, a network company that moves terabytes of data between vehicles and the cloud. Her recent book is Peers Inc: How People and Platforms are Inventing the Collaborative Economy and Reinventing Capitalism. Her current passion is working with cities to maximize the transformation possible with the introduction of self driving cars.
“Let’s build the economy of abundance. Let’s find excess capacity and unleash it. Let’s open assets, data, and minds. Let’s address climate change and income inequality. Let’s create the world we want to live in.” — Robin Chase
Kathryn King: @KingCyclesAkl — Urban Mobility Manager at New Zealand Transport Agency. Kathryn King is Auckland Transport’s Walking, Cycling and Road Safety Manager — a role that sees her manage teams who develop programmes of investment to make Auckland’s streets safer, and more appealing for the public to walk and cycle.
Distinguished Professor Billie Giles-Corti: @billiegc — Director Urban Futures Enabling Capability Platform RMIT, and leads the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Healthy Liveable Communities. She is also the Liveability Lead for The Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub, which is supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Programme and her team is currently mapping policy-relevant urban liveability indicators across all Australian capital cities.She has published over 300 articles, book chapters and reports, and by citations, is ranked in the top 1% of researchers in her field globally.
Amanda Ngabirano, MSc: @mandyug — Urban & Regional Planning Lecturer, Makerere University
“I am very passionate about mobility issues in African cities; how can people in these cities move from one place to another efficiently, conveniently, and safely, and what choices do they have? I always ponder what is being done to improve the current transport systems and what can actually be done within the existing circumstances.”
Marianne Weinreich — @mobimaw — Experienced adviser on sustainable mobility policy & promotion. Market Manager, Smart Mobility, Rambøll. Co-founder and Chairman of the Cycling Embassy of Denmark and manages the Danish Mobility Network. In charge of Thought Leadership in Ramboll Smart Mobility.
Janette Sadik-Khan: @JSadikKhan — Author of Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution. One of the leading voices on urban transportation policy, Janette Sadik-Khan is internationally respected for her transformative redesigns of New York City streets and rapid-implementation strategies that are being replicated today in cities around the world.
Michelle is a Research Director in transport at the Institute for Sustainable Futures and Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering, at UTS.
Sara Stace: @sara_stace — Sara Stace is a city shaper with extensive knowledge about cities, land use, and urban transport. Sara is currently Manager Walking and Cycling Strategy at Transport for NSW. She is chair of the Urban Mobility Task Force for Smart Cities Council ANZ; founder of startup Super Loci which uses computer vision analytics about pedestrian and bicycle movements; and a panel member of the NSW State Government Design Review Panel.
Carol Tyson: @DanceforMyself — Government Affairs Liaison at Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF). All about Transportation, Health Equity; Disability, Economic, Social Justice. Listening, Questioning, Stumbling. Seeking to ensure transportation equity.
Ankita Chachra: @ankita_chachra — Program Manager — NACTO’s — Global Designing Cities Initiative. Urbanist, city dweller, global citizen, and a dance enthusiast! Designing Cities @globalstreets. Ankita is a Program Manager at NACTO’s Global Designing Cities Initiative; this program recently launched The Global Street Design Guide, the first-ever worldwide guideline for designing city streets and prioritizing safety, pedestrians, transit, and sustainable transportation.
Tamika L. Butler, Esq.: @TamikaButler — Toole Design’s Director of Planning for California and the Director of Equity and Inclusion. In addition to her responsibilities on planning projects, Tamika leads Toole Design’s external efforts to integrate equity into all project work and internal efforts for Toole to become a more diverse, inclusive workplace that employs people of all backgrounds.
Adonia E. Lugo: @UrbanAdonia — Teaching & planning for the Urban Sustainability MA at Antioch University Los Angeles. Chicana anthropologist | Check out her book Bicycle/Race: Transportation, Culture, & Resistance at http://microcosm.pub/bicyclerace
Naomi Doerner: @Bici_Urbana — Transportation Equity Strategist. Honduran-Cuban American woman. Master of Urban Planning from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service in New York, NY. Co-founding member of The Untokening, a collaborative comprised of leaders of color working within transportation and mobility professions advancing equity and justice in communities across the U.S..
Andrea Learned: @AndreaLearned — an independent business strategist working with stakeholders in the “light electric vehicle” (LEV) eBike and eCargoBike industries. Using my 20+ years of strategic communications and deep global climate action networks to forward #ebikes #eCargoBikes #LEVs for personal and business delivery uses and to amplify #plantbased and #socialimpact startups and innovation.
Tiffany Lam: @tiffany_frances — Urbanist, Feminist, Cyclist. Born in Brooklyn, now based in London. Check out her gender/cycling zine! https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/10090 … “I am a cycling activist with expertise in the gender gap and other inequalities in cycling. I am passionate about inclusive cycling and have done cycling advocacy in Washington, DC, New York and London. I approach urban cycling as a lens through which we can examine broader issues around power, privilege and oppression.”
Rachel Aldred: @RachelAldred — Reader in Transport, Westminster Uni. MCIHT, sociologist. Qual/quant/models. Teach transport planning. Research cycling, walking. 2016 ESRC Impact Prize winner. “I teach on Westminster’s MSc Transport Planning and Management. I also sit on the editorial board of Transport Reviews. One of my research projects (Near Miss Project) was awarded Cycling Initiative of the Year 2015 by Total Women’s Cycling.”
Nidhi Gulati: @gulatinidhi — Since 2012, she has worked on transportation advocacy, placemaking, technical assistance and education projects spread across 12 American States and 5 countries. Her current roles include program manager at Project for Public Spaces — a global urban planning and design nonprofit organization based in New York City.
Barbara McCann: @CSBarb — Director of the Office of Policy Development, Strategic Planning, and Performance in the Secretary’s office of the US Department of Transportation, and leads the Department’s Safety Data Initiative and Strategic plan. She led the Department’s Safer People, Safer Streets initiative for pedestrian and bicycle safety. In 2016 she was awarded the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals Lifetime Achievement Award.-
Orlie Dahan: @EcoMotionIL — Executive Director at EcoMotion, the biggest smart mobility hub in Israel. A joint venture of III and the government, the EcoMotion Smart Transportation Community connects and supports over 500 Startups and 5000 community members.
Anjlee Agarwal: @access_anjlee — Accessibility Consultant. Anjlee Agarwal is a researcher, accessibility consultant and disability rights activist from India and well-known in Asia Pacific. She has been involved in numerous United Nations consultations on non-handicapping environment, accessible tourism and violence against women and girls with disabilities. She is regularly nominated by the Government of India as a subject expert to advise on program and policies relating to universal accessibility.
Jennifer Keesmaat: @jen_keesmaat — CEO at The Keesmaat Group. Jennifer Keesmaat is an urban planner named one of the “most powerful people in Canada” by Macleans, one of the “most influential” by Toronto Life, and one of the top Women of Influence in Canada. She spent five years as Toronto’s Chief City Planner, where she was celebrated for her forward thinking and collaborative approach to city-building.
Stephanie Pollack: @Steph_Pollack — Secretary and CEO, Massachusetts Department of Transportation. MassDOT was formed in 2009 by the merger of the Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works and its divisions with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the Massachusetts Highway Department, the Registry of Motor Vehicles and the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission. She also serve on the boards of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and Massachusetts Port Authority.
Claire Martini: @claire_martini — Policy Manager at Cascade Bicycle Club. “I believe in the power of transportation to transform lives, and am passionate about building better communities through public engagement, strategic communication, and government relations.” Currently working to improve lives through bicycling as part of the policy team at Cascade Bicycle Club.
Jana Lynott: @JanaLynott — Senior Strategic Policy Advisor at AARP Public Policy Institute. Responsible for developing the content of the Livable Communities chapter of the AARP Policy Book, adopted by the National Policy Council and Board. Advisor to AARP’s Age-Friendly Communities initiative, an affiliated program of the World Health Organization. Regular blogger for AARP’s Public Policy Institute and Great Places blog sites.
Dr Tara Goddard: @GoddardTara — Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, Texas A&M. Transportation planning, traffic psychology, road safety & design for vulnerable road users.
Lynn Ross: @MsLynnRoss — Dedicated to serving mission-driven organizations, Lynn has over 17 years of multi-sector experience including past leadership roles at the Knight Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Urban Land Institute, National Housing Conference and Center for Housing Policy and the American Planning Association. Lynn works nationally and across sectors with organizations on a mission to create and sustain equitable policies, practices and places.
Ya-Ting Liu: @yating_liu — Ya-Ting Liu is a government and public affairs professional who has focused on transportation, environment, energy and sustainability policy. Ya-Ting has over a decade of experience leading issue campaigns, developing advocacy strategies, and building coalitions to advance legislation and public policy. Her previous campaigns includes congestion pricing, plastic bag fee, federal transportation bill, and BQX light rail proposal along the Brooklyn Queens waterfront.
Meryl Wingfield: @MerylWingfield — Energy transition advocate. Integration Director, BP Chargemaster. An experienced Transformation Director, focused on the transition to a low carbon future
Sophia Nadur: @sophia_isa — Director Marketing and Innovation | BP Advanced Mobility. Helping BP create consumer-focused sustainable businesses that enable more effective movement of goods, services & people using EVs, CAVs, AI, data analytics, new digital platforms, & other advanced mobility technology. Works with global OEMs & tech companies as well as leading edge startups & accelerators in Silicon Valley, London, Stuttgart, Tel Aviv, Beijing, Shanghai, & Paris.
Courtney Williams: @BrownBikeGirl —WoC cycling advocate & consultant to the advocates. The Brown Bike Girl is a bicycle advocacy consulting firm that offers ideas to individuals and institutions that are establishing or supporting cycling access and adoption in communities of colour.
Veronica O. Davis, PE: @VeronicaODavis — Entrepreneur and Innovator for Engaging People in Planning Projects. Veronica is a transportation nerd who uses her knowledge to spark progressive social change in the community. In July 2012, the White House recognized her as a Champion of Change in transportation innovation.
Barb Chamberlain: @barbchamberlain — Director, Active Transportation Division, WSDOT. Policy thinker and community connector passionate about transportation equity. Former Chief Strategic Officer for Washington Bikes and Cascade Bicycle Club, after leading Washington Bikes into the merger that created the nation’s largest statewide bicycle nonprofit. 2012–2016, Executive Director of Washington Bikes. Creator of womenbikeblogs.com & @WomenBikeBlogs
Martha Roskowski: @MarthaRoskowski — mobility strategist. “The three revolutions in transportation — automated, shared and electric vehicles — will bring real benefit to our communities if they build on a foundation of convenient and comfortable multimodal choices backed by pricing strategies that support sustainability and equity goals. We’ll get there by building broad coalitions, engaging and empowering leaders, and developing sound strategies backed by compelling narratives based on data.”
Megan Sharkey: @sharkeysStuff — “Retrofitting cities to be resilient sustainable cities is my goal. Passionate about systems thinking, resiliency, urban planning, and strategic sustainability…Currently studying a PhD at the University of Westminster, my research aims to link community-led movements to the larger urban infrastructure needs required for action towards attaining more resilient and sustainable cities.”
Daniela Gerd tom Markotten: @Daniela_GtM — CEO moovel Group (becomes REACH NOW)
Honourable Mentions
If you haven’t met our Iomob team members in the first instalment yet, COO Elizabeth Chee and Shared Mobility Advisor Susan Shaheen, you can follow them on Twitter, too:
Acknowledgments
My thanks goes out to everyone in the MaaS and smart cities online community who contributed on Twitter towards making this list more inclusive, particularly Crissy Ditmore, Barb Chamberlain, Sara Stace, and Fiona Campbell.
Akasha is Engagement Director for iomob.net and looks after membership for Business in Heels the global network of business women. Join us at http://bit.ly/2IEF5kW
Connect on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akashaindream/
About us: Iomob revolutionises how people get around. We are a technology platform for mobility. We enable seamless, multimodal journeys across an open network where any participant can interact and connect with any other. It is an open, neutral system where large transit organizations, major service providers, startups, and independent operators can be integrated into a single user’s journey. In short, the Internet of Mobility.
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